Adam Palmer - The Boudicca Parchments

On the other hand there was a possibility that the situation might be resolved before school resumed in September. And although Nat couldn’t afford to take time off work, he could stay in contact with them via the internet and know that they were safe. That would be a weight of his mind and at least it would give them some breathing room.

Against that, the police had offered them police protection and assured them that they could protect the children against any further abduction attempts. They did not think it had been a murder attempt. The way the driver had almost hit them as he lurched forward, was merely a sign of his ineptitude, as proven by the fact that he had acted alone. The fact that it was a lone attacker, was in some way reassuring, according to the police. It implied that he had limited capacity to obtain assistance.

On the other hand they conceded that the attack on the police van carrying Daniel had been the work of career criminals. Indeed the two who were shot by the unknown man on the motorbike were themselves known to the police as violent thugs.

“Ready,” Shir announced, arriving in the living room with her suitcase.

“Me too,” echoed May, lugging her case along.

“Romy!” Julia shouted out to her youngest in the other room. “Are you ready?”

“Not yet. I’m still arranging my shoes. I don’t want them to get damaged. You know how the people at the airport throw suitcases about without caring what’s inside.”

Julia smiled.

Where on earth did she get that from?

Then Julia remembered that it was something she had said when they got back from America.

Kids! They remember everything — especially the things you want them to forget!

“Hurry up Romy. Or the nice policeman will go without us.”

The police had agreed to give them a lift to the airport and stay with them until they were safely airside. Romy had taken a shine to one of the young policeman. So it was no surprise when, seconds later, Romy appeared in the living room, struggling to drag her suitcase behind her.

Julia smiled again. The incentive had worked.

The police kept a vigilant eye out for anyone around them as Nat loaded up the people carrier and Julia strapped the children in — one of the female Community Support Officers even helping with the seat belts. But they were only on the look out for actual threats. A man innocently sitting in his car down the road was not a threat. And in any case, he drove off while the Sassons were still getting ready.

For his part, the man in the car had seen enough. The sight of the suitcases alone told Sam Morgan that they were going to the airport. He guessed that it was Heathrow and he figured he even knew where they were flying to.

The man was standing somewhere in the centre of the motorway service station, holding one of those sturdy cardboard tubes of the type that retailers sometimes use for posters and wall maps. He was looking around in every direction but the right one. Sarit had pointed him out and then moved off, circling round him, to let Daniel approach him alone from behind. If this was a trap, she wanted to be free to spring Daniel from it.

“Professor Hynds I presume.”

The professor spun round.

“Daniel Klein!” he said with enthusiasm. “We meet at last. And please… call me Ted.”

“And call me Daniel.”

The Emeritus Professor of Archaeology from Cambridge extended a large hand which Daniel shook. The firm grip was reassuring to Daniel. He had always taken it as a sign of honesty and he made sure to make his grip similarly firm to give equal reassurance to the professor.

“So,” said Ted amiably, “I understand you have something to tell me?”

“And you said you’d also made an interesting discovery.”

“Yes indeed.” Ted looked around. “Shall we get something to eat? I’m not hungry myself, I got here early and had something to eat while I was waiting, but if you want something.”

“Er, no. I’d rather we kept on the move. As you know, the authorities are still looking for me. It’s a long story, but for now let’s just say I want to avoid staying in one place for too long.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“We can along the motorway and talk.”

Ted thought about the practicalities of the situation.

“But we’ll still have to get back here don’t we? I mean I assume you came here by car too.”

“I hired a car. Let’s take mine and I’ll drop you off back here at the end.”

“Okay.”

They started walking towards the exit and the open air car park.

“Just as a matter of interest, how did you manage to hire a car? I mean you’re name would’ve set off alarm bells wouldn’t it?”

“I had a friend do it for me.”

As he walked past Sarit, she gave him a nod to indicate that she had not spotted any surveillance. They walked out, and the professor held the door open for the attractive redhead behind him, not realizing who she was. While Daniel led Ted to the car, he knew that Sarit was still looking around for signs of a possible police presence ready to swoop in. Only when they reached the car, did Sarit close the gap and manoeuvre round the pair of them to get to the driver’s seat.

Ted did a double take at this, prompting a smile from Daniel’s face.

“Oh Professor Hynds — I mean Ted — may I introduce you to my partner in crime, Sarah Smith. Miss Smith, Professor Hynds”

“Please… call me Ted said the professor smiling and again offered his hand. But when “Sarah” responded, he did not shake her hand in a firm grip, nor indeed shake it at all. Instead he raised her hand towards his lips, bowed from the waist and kissed the hand, like a medieval knight acting out a scene of courtly love.

Daniel was unsure of how Sarit was going to take it, but was relieved when she smiled and nodded politely at the professor.

“Sari — Sarah will drive. That way we can talk.”

Sarah got into the driver’s seat. Daniel and Ted sat at the back. As Sarit was manoeuvring the car back onto the M11, Daniel decided to kick-start the flagging conversation.

“So who’s going first?”

“Oh you lead. I’ll follow.”

“So the fibres in the dead man’s hand tend to confirm the authenticity of the document,” Ted was saying, nodding enthusiastically at what Daniel had told him so far.

“Yes… although they haven’t actually been carbon dated.”

“Are they going to do so?”

“Well I asked my lawyer to suggest it to the police. But I don’t know if they will. I mean it may be of interest to us but it doesn’t exactly help to either incriminate me or eliminate me from their inquiries, so I’m not sure how much importance they’ll attach to it.”

“If nothing else, it’ll tell them for certain if this parchment is an authentic historical artefact.”

“Yes. Anyway, I’m now beginning to think it is. It’s hard to see how all this could be happening over one of Martin Costa’s forgeries.”

“You said, you had some information about the content?”

“Oh yes.”

Daniel explained about the digital image enhancement — omitting any reference to the Mossad — the script and language and to his translation of it.

“A marriage certificate?”

“Yes.”

“This really is absolutely incredible. I mean a Jewish marriage certificate in England dating back to the Romano-British period is absolutely… well it’s incredible! Unprecedented!”

“The thing is that there is quite a famous character in Jewish history called Simon Bar Giora, and although the name Simon was a very common Jewish name at the time, Bar Giora was somewhat less common.”